


I Would Walk 1500 Miles, and I Would Walk 1500 More

by SarahWritesThings



Series: Five Times Tony Met His Daughter (and One Time He Didn't) [2]
Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Reunion, season 12 au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:54:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27164836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SarahWritesThings/pseuds/SarahWritesThings
Summary: 1,500 miles. That was the closest Tony had been to Israel in a year.Only a few thousand miles fromher.
Relationships: Ziva David/Anthony DiNozzo
Series: Five Times Tony Met His Daughter (and One Time He Didn't) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959589
Comments: 1
Kudos: 34





	I Would Walk 1500 Miles, and I Would Walk 1500 More

**Author's Note:**

> I finally finished Season 16 (shout out to me) and I'm ridiculously excited for Season 18. Stay tuned as I continue to fan.  
> Also I ~~refuse to~~ apologize for my terrible, punny title. It's who I am as a person.

**August 7th, 2014**

She had been on his mind since Gibbs first said that they were flying to Camp Lemonnier. Not that Ziva ever _wasn't_ on his mind, but being in Djibouti put them in the same time zone, and that was something.

1,500 miles. That was the closest Tony had been to Israel in a year.

Only a few thousand miles from her.

He had tried his best to push Ziva from his mind as they worked the case. In fact, Tony thought he had done a good job, making a particularly impressive connection between their victim and the sister of the ship's doctor. But as they wrapped up their case, their murderer on his way to prison, she was taking up more and more of his thoughts.

All he could picture was that damned orchard.

So he plucked up the courage to talk to Gibbs.

"I want to visit Israel, before going home."

Naturally, he got a stony stare in response, but Tony was determined not to falter. Their staring contest lasted until Gibbs made an unusual concession.

"You know where she is?"

"I can call Orli to confirm."

After a beat, Gibbs nodded, "I'll handle our flights to Tel Aviv."

This hadn't been what he had expected. "Boss?"

“You’re not the only one who’s been worried about her.”

And that's how Tony ended up, less than 24 hours later, sat on the tarmac in Tel Aviv, waiting for the announcement that they could deplane and wishing he hadn't had that second cup of coffee.

Gibbs’ voice shook his thoughts. “You nervous, DiNozzo?”

“What?”

“You’ve been tapping your leg the whole flight.”

He forced himself to stop. "Uh yeah, I guess I am. Aren’t you?”

“Nope.”

Because, of course it wasn't the same.

Part of him was afraid that she would be angry. She had made it clear she wanted space from her life in America, and yet, here he was, arriving with her old Boss in tow.

But another, louder part of him didn't give a shit. No one had heard a word from her in months. The last time that had happened she had been held by terrorists, and Tony had no intention of letting there be a repeat of that particular adventure.

When they finally were allowed to get out of their seats, Tony was strangely paralyzed, remembering the last time he had entered the country.

Thankfully, Gibbs took the lead. Charging out his seat and practically throwing Tony's duffle bag to him. Tony had no choice but to follow him, tripping of the plane.

Tony only caught up with him at customs, where he found Gibbs talking with a uniformed officer, his arms crossed over his chest and tapping his foot impatiently.

"What's up?" Tony asked.

The officer nodded to him, "you must be Agent DiNozzo." He reached out for Tony's passport, looking it over. "As I was just explaining to Agent Gibbs, we have a car waiting for you outside. Director Elbaz asked that we assist your arrival, which we are more than happy to oblige."

Tony made a mental note to send Orli thank you flowers.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at him, "you ready to go?"

He nodded, and the officer smiled at them. He led them to the side of the customs hall, through a secured door and down even more winding hallways. When they stepped outside, into the heat of the late Summer afternoon, they found themselves standing in front of a large black SUV.

The officer handed him a business card, "that has the telephone number for the airport's private transport service. You can call them if and when you need to return to the airport."

Gibbs shook his hand, "thank you."

"Have a good visit."

Gibbs hopped into the SUV first, looking back when Tony didn't climb in behind him.

"You coming?"

"Is this a good idea?"

Seeing the look on his boss's face, Tony nodded, "yeah, you're right."

And he got in the car.

* * *

As they drove, Tony found his heart rate increasing exponentially. Eventually he started to recognize the streets, having seen them in his dreams continuously during the past year.

And yet it was still a shock to see the David farmhouse emerge from behind large trees.

This time, Tony jumped out of the car first, wanting to see the house unobstructed.

Gibbs exited too, talking with the driver behind him. After a minute, the entire revved, and Tony could hear the tires crunching over the gravel drive as the car drove away, and Gibbs appeared at his side.

Tony looked over to him, and found his Boss staring at him expectantly.

He tilted his head towards the entrance. "Your case, you're lead."

Tony took a deep breath, nodding once.

He approached the door, forcing himself to knock confidently.

At first there was silence, but just as Tony was worrying that she wasn't home, there was the unmistakenable sound of a gun cocking, causing both Tony and Gibbs to reach for their own weapons.

The door swung open to reveal Ziva, staring at them down the barrel of a handgun. Her mouth dropped open at their appearance.

In an instant, all Tony's nerves disappated and the world felt right again.

He gave her a sideways grin. "So, how was your summer?"

She dropped her gun to her side, staring back and forth between him and Gibbs, who greeted her with a "Ziver".

There was another long moment of silence, which Tony used to take in Ziva's appearence. Her hair was lighter than when he had last saw her, but still cascading around her in untamed curls. She seemed to be tired, there were the faintest bags under her eyes, and she was wearing sweatpants, something he knew she didn't do often.

Tony decided to prompt her out silence. "Can we come in?"

She blinked at him again, but seemed to shake herself to conciousness again. "Yes, of course."

She stepped past, guesturing in with one hand, while the other fiddled with the door handle, watching it with the same determination as when she was finalizing a case report.

Tony entered, stopping just a few paces in so he could turn back to watch her. Gibbs, on the other hand, moved further in, looking around the house.

"Nice place you got."

She sounded dazed, "thank you. This was my family's home."

"She was born here," Tony added, grinning at her.

Gibbs nodded, "you lived here since you left?"

Ziva cast a sideways glance at Tony, "not quite, I did some travelling, but I've been here for most of this year."

Gibbs had walked a loop of the living room, stopping on the otherside of the sofa. He looked down at the sofa, then back up at Ziva with shock on his face. He raised an eyebrow in a silent question.

She cleared her throat, "I have not have the opportunity to clean up properly-"

But she was cut off my an odd noise, sounding vaguely like a cat that fell over.

"Excuse me." She charged off down the hallway, disappearing into the master bedroom.

Totally confused, Tony turned back to Gibbs, who seemed to be looking around the room more carefully than he had before.

"What was that about?"

Gibbs didn't respond, instead continuing his read of the room. Tony stepped forward, looking down at the sofa of interest, but the only thing there was an odd, horseshoe shaped pillow and what looked like a pale pink kitchen towel.

Not exactly criminal evidence.

Ziva's voice floated back down the hall in soft Hewbrew.

Behind him, footsteps annoucned Ziva's return, and he turned to see her cradling a pile of blankets.

"You doing laundry, David?"

But she didn't seem to catch his joke. "What?"

Gibbs, however, stepped out from behind the sofa, walking forward to wrap an arm around Ziva and press a kiss to her forehead. "Congratulations, kid."

Her eyes watered suspiciously, "thank you."

Now Tony was truly bewildered. "What are you talking about?"

Tentatively, Ziva stepped forward, holding out the blankets to him. 

Tony glanced back at Gibbs, who didn't give anything away. Ziva was still staring at him expectantly, so he looked down at the blankets. 

Wrapped inside of them, there was a small baby, sleepily chewing on their fingers.

"This is Tali," Ziva told him.

"Tali?"

The baby seemed to recognize her name, as she blinked at him, wiggling slightly in her blanket cocoon.

Gibbs took a step towards them, "I can take her for a bit, give you two a chance to talk."

Ziva seemed to deliberate for a moment, chewing her lip anxiously. "That is probably a good idea."

He gently took the baby, cradling her in his arms with obvious confidence. He gave Tony a signature glare before crossing the room, exiting onto the back patio.

Ziva looked up at him, searching him for a reaction. "Tony?"

"You've had a baby."

"Yes."

"She's my kid, isn't she?"

"Yes." 

Suddenly his knees felt weak, and slid around the sofa, plopping down onto the cushions. Questions began tumbling out of his mouth.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Ziva sat beside him, placing her hands in her lap and refusing to look at him. "I was scared. And I was selfish. There is really no excuse, and I am sorry, Tony."

But he plowed on, "how old is she?"

"She is almost nine weeks old, born June 11th."

He tried to think back, racking his brain for some memory of what he had been doing while _his child_ was being born on the other side of the world. But he had thought it was just another, ordinary day.

Ziva shifted uncomfortably beside him, "I do not expect you to be involved, if you do not want to be. I am responsible for her birth."

Tony couldn't help but laugh at this. "Last I checked, it take two to tango, sweetcheeks."

"Yes, but you did not know I was pregnant."

"I would have been here."

"I know."

Tony looked out the back window, where he could just see the top of Gibbs' head where he sat. He couldn't help but think about how excited his Dad would be to hear he had a granddaughter.

He turned back to Ziva, shifting to face her on the sofa, "do you want me to be involved?"

"I have made enough choices for you," she said evenly.

Tony sighed heavily, running his hands over his face.

Ziva reached out a hand, placing it on his arm gently. "I know you are very angry with me-."

Oddly enough, anger seemed to be one of the more insignificant emotions he was feeling in that moment. Confusion, shock, joy, absolute terror? Sure. But anger?

He cut her off, "what do we do now?"

"What?"

"Something's gonna have to give, if we want to keep our family together."

She opened her mouth, staring at him in shock. She cleared her throat, "is that what you want?"

"More than anything."

"But you have never liked children."

"People change. Besides, this is our child. She's going to be a badass."

Ziva gave a weak smile, "she will be a force in the world, that is certain."

Tony reached out to her, brushing a curl out of her face. "You're right, I'm angry, but what's done is done, what matters now is what we do next."

"I am so sorry."

"I know you are."

She blinked at him, "I do not understand how you are so calm right now. When I found out I was pregnant I was terrified."

"I don't know either, but give me the chance to meet her first."

Tony stood, reaching out a hand to help Ziva to her feet. He held it loosely, pulling her behind him as he made his was onto the back patio.

Gibbs looked up at them cautiously. "That didn't take very long."

"Can I hold her?"

"Of course you can," he scoffed, "it's your kid, DiNozzo."

Hearing Gibbs say it sent a fresh wave of butterflies through his stomach, but Tony held out his arms anyway. He tried to duplicate he way Ziva and Gibbs had held her as Tali was settled into his arms.

She was so tiny, weighing practically nothing.

Tony sat down, trying to blink back the emotion that overwhelmed him.

"She's a cute baby. You two did good."

He grinned up at Gibbs, "took us long enough, am I right?"

Gibbs rolled his eyes, though he was smiling slightly.

Tony looked accross to Ziva, who had tears streaming down her face, and she smiled warmly at him.

And it felt right.

**Author's Note:**

> Subscribe to [the series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959589) for all the fluffly, angsty goodness.


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